Time and Time Again
by Story Please
Summary: The Portrait of Albus Dumbledore has a mission for you, if you choose to accept it, but if you go back in time, will you ever truly be able to move forward with your life? A very fluffy fic requested by daisukikasa from Tumblr, who draws lovely art!
**Time and Time Again**

You're not a big fan of your Head of House. Horace Slughorn is, for lack of a better word, a giant, ancient lump of a man, who doesn't know a Sneezing Drought from a Hiccup Halting Potion.

His large walrus mustache and affable manner of speaking is ridiculous in its falsity, and he has already forgotten or mispronounced your name more than twice, even though you're one of the highest-performing students in your Potions class. It's not your fault that you're a half-blood. It's not your fault that you have no famous family members.

You find yourself missing Professor Snape.

Now, it is true that Snape had never been anything resembling a kind person, but at least he was consistent in his treatment of his students.

This irritatingly blatant nepotism in Potions wouldn't normally bother you, as Transfiguration is your favorite class, but you miss Professor Snape's lectures and how he always used to go into details not covered by the textbook. Snape's classes felt comprehensive and advanced. Now, you barely have to pay attention in class to get full marks.

Not that you go to Potions class very often anymore. It's too painful to be surrounded by his absence, even though he'd substituted only a handful of times the previous year when he's been serving as headmaster.

You're not worried about losing points or detention. Slughorn just passes the attendance sheet around class and never checks it anyway. Besides, you figure that if you're basically invisible anyway, why not slip off and have a bit of fun?

This is why you are not in class on this beautiful spring day. Instead, you are kicking back in a recently discovered secret alcove with a bay window overlooking an overgrown secret garden that you've spent the past week cleaning out and adding some cushions so that it can be your little personal slice of solitude.

All goes well until you leave your little secret lair. You're three steps from the moving staircase when you hear a very familiar clearing of a throat behind you.

"Is there a reason that you are out of class?" Professor McGonagall narrows her eyes at you and crosses her arms disapprovingly.

You flush with mortification at having been caught and shrink away from her.

"Come along, then," she says sternly, with a hint of exasperation. "To my office."

You have only visited the Headmaster's office a handful of times, mostly for non-disciplinary reasons, but the stone gryffin that guards the staircase up to the office itself is still unnerving in the way that it moves aside almost like a living thing.

Professor McGonagall appears to be about to speak when a silvery kingfisher Patronus appears through the window.

"Minerva, please come to the Charms classroom immediately! It's urgent!" Flitwick's squeaky voice exclaims from the tiny creature's beak.

"Stay here and do not touch anything," McGonagall says sternly. "I shall know if you do."

You kick your legs back and forth and look around the room. The majority of the portraits behind the Headmaster's desk appear to be sleeping, but it is one sleeping figure in particular that draws your eye.

"Hello Professor Snape," you say respectfully.

The portrait lets out an almost comical snore and you snicker, despite yourself.

"Come on, Professor. I mean you no disrespect. I simply wish to talk to you."

"Dunderheaded girl! Can't you see that I am sleeping?!" His voice is as harsh and cold as you remember, but you do not begrudge him for his grumpiness.

"Please. I'm sure the Headmistress will be back any moment now. I just need a minute of your time." You try not to sound pathetic, but your voice comes out a bit more whiny than you'd hoped it would be.

"Very well, but make it quick." Portrait-Snape opens his eyes to look at you and you realize that this is the closest you've ever been to his face. Only now do you notice how many fine lines traverse his painted face and how tired he looks. You wonder if this is simply the artist's interpretation or if it truly reflects the face of the man himself.

"I just wanted to...to thank you," you say, bowing your head in deference. "A lot of the students still blame you even after the exclusive Prophet article came out earlier this year, but I always knew that you were doing your best."

He chuckles darkly at this.

" _Oh_? Did you really?" he asks, his voice choked with disbelief.

"You didn't deserve to die," you continue, your fist clenched tightly.

"Many would disagree with you, you know," he replies. "Still, I do hope that I am not the first one to tell you that life's not fair."

"I just...I wish that there was some way I could have helped." You stare at the floor, a sense of melancholy descending over you like a dark cloud.

"My dear girl, there is a way that you might yet help," a new voice says affably.

You stare to the left of Snape and your eyes grow wide. Albus Dumbledore is smiling at you from his painting with twinkling painted eyes.

"Do not raise her hopes, Albus," Snape scoffs, looking irritated.

"I think that she can choose for herself, don't you?" Dumbledore says with a chuckle. "Now, I happen to know about your abilities in Transfiguration, though my knowledge is a few years old. Tell me, have you been able to attempt the Animagus transformation yet? I hear Minerva talking about it from time to time- apparently it's become rather popular in this past year."

You blush and nod. "My animagus form is a barn owl! I just got added to the registry two months ago!"

"See, Severus? She's perfect!" Dumbledore gushes triumphantly.

"What for?" You ask as Snape groans and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Why, a very special trip back in time," Dumbledore says seriously. "I was able to do the calculations back when I was alive, but only an animagus with an avian form can attempt it. It's the limitation of the amulet, you see. It was built by Rowena Ravenclaw, whose animagus form was rumored to be a golden eagle that had the ability to travel through time temporarily. It works differently than a Time Turner, though, so you will only be able to use it for a set amount of time before it vaults you back to your original time. If you succeed, though, it may very well change the course of history altogether."

You gulp and nod, glancing back at the door and wondering if McGonagall will burst in and ruin everything, but you hear nothing and turn back to the wall of paintings.

"Well? Are you up to this task?" Dumbledore asks. "I know it is much to ask of a student, but it may be our only hope."

"It's insane, that's what it is!" Snape hisses from his portrait. "Don't listen to the old coot! Go and live your life and ignore his rambling nonsense!"

"There are many who are dead and gone who need not be," Dumbledore says cryptically.

"I'll do it!" you exclaim, your hands curling into determined fists as you recall the long list of the dead published in the Prophet. "What do I need to do first?"

"Ah, well," Dumbledore says, "first you'll need the proper memories and the amulet."

His portrait swings open like a door and behind it, you see a phial of smoky material as well as a pendant shaped like an hourglass with wings attached to a golden chain.

"Are these...memories?" you ask, grabbing the phial and shaking it gently.

Dumbledore nods. "It is imperative that you give these to the past version of myself. It very well may be what we need to prevent the first Wizarding War from happening."

"How long will I be able to stay?" you ask, your voice trembling with determination.

"From my research, I was led to believe that the duration for any time leap seems to be a full twenty-four hours," Dumbledore says seriously. "Find my past self as soon as you can, though. This may be your only chance."

"I won't wish you good luck," Snape drawls, "but I will tell you that I do hope that you don't fail."

You smile and nod, knowing that this is actually high praise coming from the surly Potions master.

You place the amulet around your neck and marvel at the weight of it. Even though it is small, it feels incredibly solid. Tucking the memories in your cloak, you shift into your Animagus form and hoot softly, flapping your wings and gliding up to the empty perch that used to belong to Fawkes. You cock your head to the side and hoot softly.

"Simply beautiful, isn't she, Severus?" Albus says brightly.

Snape merely grunts, but he does nod his head.

You are suddenly very thankful that owls are incapable of blushing.

"The amulet is triggered by speed," Albus continues. "You will need to fly and fly fast. I recommend the thermal drafts that rise over the Black Lake for best results."

You bob your head because owl necks don't seem to work much at all like human necks do, and push off of the perch, spreading your wings wide.

"Oh splendid, splendid!" Dumbledore claps his hands as you take a lap around the room before shooting through the open window.

The last thing you hear as you set your sights on the Black Lake is a soft, silky voice calling out: "Good luck! You'll need it!"

* * *

You climb higher and higher into the air, your wings straining as the air grows thin. If Dumbledore is correct, you will need to pick up enough speed to activate the amulet. You right yourself for a moment and then point your head down and fold your wings as you descend into a dive. It is then that you realize that you aren't certain how to get to the right time at all. Your understanding of dates as they pertain to the first Wizarding War is limited. It galls you to know that your understanding of the recent past is fuzzier than your knowledge of goblin rebellions from the 1800's.

But then you think of Snape. You know he was thirty-seven when he was killed; the anniversary of his death is almost upon you. Which means that the First Wizarding War happened when he was a teenager, probably not much older than you are now.

You try to imagine a sixteen year old version of the sallow professor, but it is an impossible task. Instead, you focus on the number and the sound of his voice, which you doubt has changed much from the first time that it dropped from a boyish falsetto.

You feel your feathers puff up with what feels like a strong electric charge, but you know it can only be one thing.

Magic.

It pulls you roughly into it, not unlike a Portkey, and all that you can think before everything goes dark is the sadness in those dark, painted eyes.

* * *

You're falling out of the sky and you hastily pump your wings to reverse your direction, but the ground is coming up too quickly. So quickly, in fact, that when you spread your wings and tailfeathers to slow yourself down, it sends you rocketing inches above the water of the Black Lake like a tiny, white, feathered stone.

You hear a sharp cry and then feel the impact of something hard as you run headlong into someone who lets out a guttural "OOF!"

"Oi! You'd better be ready! We'll be back after we get him patched up!" You hear the receding cries of a couple of angry male voices.

Blinking your eyes rapidly, you wobble unsteadily on your claws, only belatedly realizing that you're still in owl form.

"Oh no! She's hurt!" A female voice grows louder as a pair of bright green eyes look down at you with concern.

"Luckily, Potter's head is full of hot air, or it might have been worse...for the owl." You turn your head abruptly toward the sound of a new, yet undeniably familiar voice. You know it so well, even though it is slightly higher in pitch than you are used to hearing.

Of course, it could also be the ringing in your ears.

"You wait here, Sev! I'll run over to Hagrid's hut and see if he has any medicine to treat her with!" The girl who you are certain is Lily Evans turns and runs off, leaving you alone with the scrawny teenaged boy with dark greasy hair and a large hooked nose that is far too big for his face.

He strokes the feathers on your head gently and makes a comforting clicking noise with his tongue.

"Hello there, pretty girl, where did you come from, then?"

You hoot back softly, immensely glad that you are in owl form, but you aren't sure how long you'll be able to maintain your form.

"What's this around your neck, then?" His fingers are slipping down towards the amulet and a surge of fear fills your chest.

Without thinking, you shift abruptly into human form, which surprised him enough to make him jump back and cry out in surprise.

You try to raise your hand to protect the amulet, but it hurts so terribly that you whimper and turn your head, realizing that it's bent at an unnatural angle and blood is running down your numb, unresponsive fingers.

"Please, Prof-S-Severus, help me," you croak, and his eyes grow even wider than before.

"How do you know my name?" He asks, but it's obvious that he's already assessing your injury. It is almost as though he's had personal experience with handling the severely wounded.

He begins a healing chant that sounds more like a song than a spell, and you wince as the bone slips back through your tattered flesh and knits back together agonizingly slowly. Already the frayed tendon and muscle is melting into scab and scar and then the wound is no more than a faded mark upon your skin.

He collapses onto his knees, panting heavily, just as Lily and Hagrid arrive.

"Yeh said it t'were an owl, not a girl!" Hagrid exclaims in surprise.

"But…!" Lily is red-faced from running and she looks at you in utter shock. Her eyes dart over to the amulet you hastily stuff under your robes.

"Um...that's my surname!" You exclaim suddenly, surprising everyone. "I slipped on a rock and it looked worse that it was. I'm sorry for causing trouble. I'll try to be less clumsy next time."

Hagrid nods and lumbers away, leaving Lily and Severus on opposite sides of you staring at you suspiciously.

"So, who are you, anyway?" Lily asks, her eyes narrowed.

"A messenger," you say, mustering your best Urgent and Trustworthy face. "It is imperative that I speak with the Headmaster!"

"How can we know that you're who you say you are?" Lily stomped her foot, obviously growing impatient.

"Severus, you can read me, can't you?" You say, finding the odd name comes more easily to you with use. "Please. I don't have much time."

Severus gives you a surprised look, but nods. You notice how gangly and coltish he looks compared to his grown up self.

You lock eyes and he seems to fall into them, his magic seeping into your memories like smokey fingers. It's obvious that he's very fairly skilled, but it's not without its discomfort.

"Look into my eyes," he says slowly and hypnotically, though it's really not necessary. It occurs to you that he may be doing it for Lily's benefit so that she won't know that slipping into someone's mind is as easy as it is for him.

You try to push recent memories to the surface- the portrait of Dumbledore speaking to you, the Prophet article headlines, the large, white marble war memorial covered with names of those who lost their lives, many of whom not yet born.

He pushes them all aside with the air of someone who is utterly unimpressed and digs deeper until he brushes against the memory of Professor Snape, your Professor Snape, swooping down the aisles in Potions class and descending upon chattering students with a glowering expression that could likely curdle milk. The memory fades, replaced by another and another in a flickering landscape of moments It's as though he's opened the floodgates and thousands of memories from spotting him picking at his food at the Head Table to long remembrances of his House speeches at the beginning and end of each year. There is finally the year where he teaches Defense. Then he sees himself at the Headmaster's podium, standing rigidly with his fingers clenching the sides of it until his knuckles are snow-white. He pulls back from your mind, his face clouded with a sense of grim understanding.

"Come then," he says seriously, "I shall take you to the Headmaster myself."

"Wait! Sev! What are you-?"

"Please, Lily. I was about to say something terrible to you when she appeared and slammed into that dunderheaded Potter. She knows something...about...me. I...I've been wrong about...about everything." Severus shies away from Lily, his head hanging with remorse.

"No! That's not good enough! Now, would _someone_ _please_ _tell me exactly what is going on here_?" Lily screams, stomping her foot.

"I'm...from the future and I need to see the Headmaster to save countless lives!" you blurt out, belatedly hoping that your words don't ripple through the space-time continuum and kill everyone. You look around, glad to see that reality hasn't unraveled, and wring your hands together awkwardly.

Lily's jaw drops and she looks at Severus speechlessly, her eyes seeking confirmation.

He nods, and her mouth seems to drop even further than before.

"I...I only get to be here for a day," you explain shakily, "and so I must speak with Albus Dumbledore immediately."

"Well!" Lily has recovered and she's stomped over, placing a protective arm around you. "I am going to go with you both as well! There is no way that I am going to sit out on this!"

Severus shoots a curious look at Lily, but she raises her nose proudly and stares back with a stubborn gleam in her eyes.

They both look you up and down and make sure that you are healed enough to walk before you all begin the trek back to the castle. Lily is kind enough to charm your robes enough to clean them of the majority of the stains and rips in the fabric, chattering excitedly all the while about what she hopes the future will be like.

Climbing the stairs is a bit difficult with the aches and pains of a recently healed injury, but you manage, and luckily, you're an expert on the moving staircases. Even Severus is impressed.

"Do you get to go to class as an owl?" Lily is asking excitedly, looking at you as though expecting pinfeathers to sprout from your skin at any moment.

"No," you say, shaking your head, "Professor McGonagall allowed me to take my animagus certification exam because I showed great aptitude in Transfiguration, and I am on the registry in the future, but I find it much harder to take notes in class without opposable thumbs."

Lily snorts with laughter, and even Severus cracks an unpracticed grin at your quip.

"I'd like to be an animagus," Lily says thoughtfully, "but I hear that some people become pretty useless or disgusting things. Imagine what it would be like to have a flobberworm as your animagus form!"

"Or worse," Severus replied, "what if you were a bacterium or a virus?"

"I'm not sure about that," you reply with a giggle, "but we did have one guy in our class whose animagus form is a praying mantis."

"Does he have a habit of...biting people's heads off?" Severus asked mildly, prompting all of you to laugh loudly enough for it to echo off the high ceilings and cause one of the paintings to shush you.

Finally, you reach the Headmaster's office.

"It's an emergency," Severus says to the gryffin, which stands there and makes no motion of having heard.

"Let me try," Lily says, "Professor Dumbledore has an urgent guest. Please let us in so that we can seek an audience with him."

She bows low to the gryffin, which blinks at her and bows its head, but still does not move.

"I know, I'll just change into my owl form and fly in through his window!" you say, trying to ignore the disappointed looks on both Severus and Lily's faces.

Just then, the gryffin leaps aside and you all turn back to see Albus Dumbledore standing at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes twinkling merrily.

"Now, then," he says brightly, "To what do I owe this great honor?"

"Please, Sir!" you cry, "They saved me when I fell...I would very much like to speak with you about an urgent matter!"

Dumbledore looks at Lily, who is holding your hand protectively as though she is worried that you will float off into the sky, and Severus, who stands close to your other side with a surprisingly protective stance. It is as though he is standing in as your bodyguard, and you feel a surge of affection for both of them for doing such kind things for you after knowing you for less than an hour.

"Well, then," Dumbledore says, surprising all of you, "I guess you'd all better come in, then."

It takes you a short time to present Dumbledore with the memories from Portrait Dumbledore in the future, but when he is finished visiting each one, he withdraws his head from the Penseive looking both shocked and intensely grateful.

"Come, Severus," he says, drawing out a handful of the memories and leaving the rest inside, "some of these are for you."

Lily stands with Severus, but you squeeze her hand and she sits back down, realizing that he needed to view them alone.

While Severus is viewing the memories in the Pensieve, the Headmaster speaks with you about the various things that you hope to change about the future, and the lives that must be saved if at all possible.

Albus frowns and asks you who sent you back, nodding solemnly when you tell him about Portrait Dumbledore and his horrible experience with the cursed ring.

"I only have a day to be here, sir," you say humbly, "but I will do whatever it takes if it means that I can help stop a terrible tragedy!"

Dumbledore chuckles and shakes his head. "You are still young and should not be forced to shoulder such a heavy burden. You have already changed enough, that I feel that we shall greatly be ahead of the curve this time around. I shall not have to use Lily Potter's son as a bargaining chip to defeat a madman."

Lily looks at you, her eyes filling with horror as she points at herself and you nod helplessly.

"OH MERLIN, NO!" she exclaims, "I mean, I had that one dream about James wearing see-through Quidditch robes, but it was only that one time and-"

Severus groans from behind you and you turn to see him returning from the Pensieve alcove, his eyes dark and secretive from what he has seen.

"I _knew_ you had a crush on him, Lily, but marriage? A kid?!" Severus exclaims, "He tries to murder half the kids in the school, myself included, and you have the gall to fall in _love_ with him!"

Lily shrugs and sticks her tongue out at him. "Not _me_! _Future_ me! Who is apparently a giant idiot who thinks that messy hair and those dreamy blue eyes-"

"You're doing it again!" Severus says, narrowing his eyes.

"Nope! That time I was just having you on!" Lily sticks out her tongue impishly before turning to you and smirking wickedly. "Well, now that I know about _that_ horrible fate, maybe I can do something about it!"

Dumbledore clears his throat and both Severus and Lily blush, as though realizing that they're not the only two people in the room.

"Now, then, what was that about an amulet?" Dumbledore asks you kindly, "May I see it?"

You fumble around in your robes to grab at the golden chain and then frown. Pulling aside your robes at the collar you begin to frantically pull at each layer until you reach bare skin.

"No!" you cry, full of frustration and terror, "I know it was around my neck!"

"Hmm, it is as I thought," Dumbledore says, stroking his beard.

" _What_?!" you exclaim, eyes wide with horror.

"You've successfully changed the future so much that you cannot return to your past," Dumbledore says with a sad smile. "Alas, you cannot know for sure whether or not it is for better or worse as of yet, but I would like to think that we come out better this time around."

He winks at you and you blink rapidly, your eyes filling with tears. Already, you can feel your memories of your previous timeline growing fuzzier.

"What will happen to me?" you croak, grateful for Lily's hug and the feeling of Severus gripping your shoulder tightly as though he is terrified that you are about to disappear into thin air.

"Why, my dear, I am eternally indebted to you," Dumbledore says, taking your hand gently. "I shall claim you as a distantly related niece, and give you access to all that you will need to live safely and well in these dark times. From your robes, I gather that you have already been Sorted Slytherin, so I shall not force you to move to another House. Severus, do you mind showing our new student around? I am sure that things have not changed much in her time, but it is always good to get one's bearings so as not to get turned around."

Severus nods, his grip on your shoulder lessening as you wince slightly under the pressure.

Dumbledore walks all three of you out to the bottom of the stairwell and pets the stone gryffin gently as Severus, Lily and you all make your way down the stairs together.

Lily whispers "don't be a stranger, promise?" in your ear as you reach the stairs leading up to Gryffindor Tower.

You nod, grateful for her fiery, fierce friendship, even though you've literally just met. Both you and Severus wave as Lily bounds up the stairs.

"So." Severus isn't looking at you, but you get the impression that he wants to do so badly that you can almost _taste_ it.

"So."

"You know the older me. I guess I turn into a pretty big bastard from what I saw." Severus tries to laugh, but it comes out flat and ugly. You can feel the self-hatred seething on the surface of his skin.

"Not really. You just hate idiots and lazy students who don't follow rules," you reply with a shrug. "I mean, the you that I knew...but even now, he's fading away and I'm scared that I'm going to lose everything."

Severus turns to you and grips your shoulders.

"I will _not_ let that happen!" he says fiercely. "I know that I am ugly and unpopular, but I have... _abilities_. Abilities that you may be at least marginally aware of, even if they're not as fancy as Adult Me is capable of. Now that I know what I know about...everything...I...I want to be the one to protect you this time."

He blushes, his expression awkward as his Adam's Apple bounces in his throat.

"You know, it's really not proper for students to crush on their professors," you say, encircling him tightly in an unexpected hug that he melts into surprisingly well after initially tensing up, "but you're most definitely _not_ my professor."

When you reach the Slytherin Common Room, you find that Severus has been forced to sleep in his own room by the pure-blooded Slytherins, who do not want to share with him because of his drunkard Muggle father, which is a fact that Sirius Black discovered and then spread around the school in their first year at Hogwarts.

Severus doesn't seem to mind the privacy, although he makes sure to ward the doors to keep people from coming in and trying to harm him while he's sleeping.

"Who'd have thought that there would be perks to being the outcast?" Severus says with mock joviality.

It is obviously a source of great shame to Severus, and you commiserate with him, as your mother has (Or had? Or will have? Time is now so malleable in your mind that it might as well not exist) a propensity to get drunk verbally accost you when she's had a bad day.

"I mean," you say, looking away uncomfortably as you sit on his bed, "It's not as bad because she only screams and yells at me. It's not like she hits me or throws a bottle at me or anything."

Severus grips your hand tightly from where he is seated next to you and shakes his head.

"It still hurts. It cuts deeply when it's just words...sometimes it hurts even more because it stays on in your head long after they're done screaming. At least the pain of being hit is over as soon as it's done."

You can't bear to sleep in your own bed that first night, even though the House Elves sneak in while you're at dinner and make one up for you. You spend that first night lying facing Severus and holding hands like children, your foreheads pressed against one another as you comfort one another in sleep.

In fact, it becomes a secret nightly ritual.

And, as the days and weeks go on, Severus teaches you about his spellmaking and Potions improvements, and you teach him the Animagus visualization exercises. You cover for him for the entire month that he keeps the mandrake leaf under his tongue, not that he usually speaks much in class, anyway. It only takes him a month after that to achieve his first transformation into a large, stately raven with oily black wings.

Professor McGonagall is highly impressed when you both speak with her and ask to take the test to be added to the registry. Lily is so jealous that it only takes her two weeks after her mandrake leaf treatment to achieve the form of a scarlet macaw. Flying, however, turns out to be a harder transition for her than she'd originally thought, and she ends up shouting a string of curse words that should not be repeated in polite company while you and Severus have flying races over the length of the Black Lake together. She manages after a couple rough landings, though.

This leads to a school-wide interest in becoming an animagus, which eventually leads to the animagus transformation being tested for by McGonagall to keep illegal animaguses from traipsing around the school. When she finds that Sirius, James and Peter are sneaking out of the castle after hours, she nearly has a conniption, and James' invisibility cloak is seized.

Lily ends up bringing Alice and Marlene into your little trio, which is fun because Alice knows all the trivia for everything ever and Marlene knows all of the dirtiest wizarding jokes. Frank, of course, ends up hovering around because he loves Alice more than life himself, even though she rolls her eyes at his theatrical behavior. Remus sometimes joins in when he is feeling well enough, and since Severus never ventures through the Whomping Willow, he has far more compassion about Remus' "furry little problem" when he finally works it out himself. Without anyone letting the werewolf run loose on full moon nights, it becomes very safe and almost boring at Hogwarts, though nobody in their right mind would ever argue that a constant fear of mortal peril is a good thing.

The Slytherin students start out by making fun of you for hanging around Severus, then they imply things about your relationship with him, since you both retire to the same room, but finally they simply ignore you most of the time. You're friendly but never too friendly. The names you come across each day are names that you associate with Death Eaters, though many are only fourteen and fifteen years of age.

It is seven months after your arrival when you finally kiss Severus on the lips for the first time and his eyes grow wide and he presses against you so tightly that you think you might cry out, his voice coming in stutters and cries of joy. Most nights, you don't always do much more than cuddle and hold hands, your foreheads pressed against one another as you have been doing since the beginning, but other nights are hot and full of moans and exploration that leaves you both panting upon sweat-slick sheets.

There is something in the back of your mind that reminds you that this is probably kind of wrong- he is after all the boy who will become the man that glowers at you from the front of Potions class, but you find that you don't really care about the impropriety of it any longer. He is Severus- _your_ Severus, and he is solid and stares adoringly into your eyes and that's really all you need to know.

* * *

Voldemort is defeated once and for all on January 1st of the next year. The Daily Prophet's headlines are huge and printed with golden ink in celebration. The article says that thanks to an "integral agent with inside information," Dumbledore has been working with a number of his agents of the Order of the Phoenix to track down and destroy artifacts that were keeping Voldemort alive and arguably immortal. With the destruction of said items, Voldemort was so weakened that his body literally fractured and disintegrated. The article also says that all Death Eaters that have been captured no longer have the Dark Mark on their arms, which is making it difficult for the Ministry to argue their guilt, but some have been captured based off of a list of "inner circle" names that was in Voldemort's possession at his time of death.

* * *

In the end, James is the one who apologizes for his immature, bullying behavior, largely after Sirius gets himself sentenced to a year of public service without a wand after hexing a bunch of Muggles and getting caught by the Aurors. Peter comes out of his shell and he and James end up having an epic fight when he finally voices his own built-up resentment at being overlooked and ignored all the time. This is especially funny because James gets so flustered that he grows horns right in the middle of the Great Hall. Eventually, they make up and apologize thoroughly to Severus and Lily for being right gits while all of you laugh because Peter ends up growing rat fangs and James ends up with hooves instead of hands.

"And I'm sorry for...er...hitting you with my face…" James finishes, looking at you with a hangdog expression.

"And I'm sorry for crash landing onto it," you reply with a smirk.

"Three cheers for feeling sorry for ourselves!" Frank crows, and everyone raises their wand in the air and lets out sparks into the air with a loud shout.

By graduation, your friend group takes up one entire long table at the Three Broomsticks and is made up of a number of students from all four Houses. Both you and Severus groan theatrically when Lily (predictably) starts to date James, but you both endure it.

"You'd better!" Lily says, sticking her tongue out in classic Lily fashion. "After all, I did have to endure two years of watching you two play kissy face!"

"Was it really that bad?" Severus asks, looking innocent.

"Hm, let me think. _YES_!" Lily replies, socking him playfully on the shoulder.

"I can't believe we're almost free," you say wistfully, leaning back in your seat as Severus puts his arm around you and kisses you on the forehead.

"Ah, yes, I thought I smelled something," Marlene cackles.

"Ah, but that's not freedom! I think you're thinking of quite a _different_ F word!" Frank replies, prompting a roar of laughter from your table that causes Rosmerta to glare at your group from behind the bar.

"What do you think?" Severus asks you, pressing his forehead against yours as Lily rolls her eyes at your blatant display of affection and turns to talk to Alice. "Do you like the future of this past?"

You look down and stroke your fingers up his clean, Dark Mark-free forearm and look around at all the happy smiling faces that are free from having to fight for survival in a terrible war and you nod emphatically, your eyes stinging with happy tears.

"It's even better than I could have ever hoped," you say, and then you kiss him because you can, your heart filling with joy at the possibilities ahead.


End file.
